Three Credit Unions Lead in College Card Accounts

Three credit unions were among the national leaders in opening new credit card accounts in 2011 with colleges or universities with which they have card-issuing agreements, a new report says.

According to an annual report prepared for Congress by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and released last month, the leader among both credit union and non-credit union affinity card issuers was the 43,000-member, $276 million University of Illinois Employees Credit Union, which opened 3,452 new card accounts in its affinity program with the University of Illinois Alumni Association in 2011.

The credit union had opened 779 new accounts under the agreement in 2010, when it was ranked 5th in the nation in opening new accounts under affinity deals with colleges.

The 62,000 -member, $746 million Purdue Federal Credit Union held the spot currently occupied by UIECU last year, but fell to third this year, opening 2,877 accounts under its affinity agreement with the Purdue Alumni Association.

Last year, PFCU opened 2,642 card accounts under the deal.

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union came in fifth on the list, opening 1,115 new card accounts under its contract with Michigan State University. Last year it was ranked 24th and opened 302 accounts, the report said.

The annual report was mandated by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 and had been formerly assembled by the Federal Reserve.